Iran will not compromise 'red lines' in nuclear talks: Raisi
An agreement will be reached within days .
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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi giving a speech at the Russian State Duma
On Tuesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi made it clear that Iran will not back down on its red lines in the nuclear talks, which are taking place with major powers. This comes after the European Union said that it's about time Washington and Tehran take the decision to reach an agreement.
The negotiations have been ongoing for 11 months with the aim to revive the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement, which lifted the sanctions imposed on Iran in exchange for a nuclear program with some compromises - how, they have reached their final stages.
Iran wants guarantees that Washington will not abandon the deal again while seeking the removal of all sanctions on Tehran, especially after ex-president Trump abandoned the deal in 2018, bringing bag draconian sanctions.
Ali Bagheri Kani, Iranian diplomat involved with the negotiations, returned to Iran on Monday for consultations.
Referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Raisi said, "The government pursues nuclear negotiations in full accordance with the principles and framework set by the Supreme Leader."
"It has not and will not back down on any of these red lines," he said.
On Monday, negotiations coordinator Enrique Mora said that the talks should conclude within the next few days.
However, diplomats contend that the sides should overcome their differences, especially that the latest demand from Russia is the guarantee from Washington that Russian trade, investment, and military-technical cooperation with Tehran will remain unaffected by sanctions, particularly while the conflict in Ukraine brews.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, in his visit to Estonia, that Russia has an interest in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
"We continue to work to see if we can come back to mutual compliance with Iran on the deal. Russia continues to be engaged in those efforts and it has its own interest in ensuring that Iran is not able to acquire a nuclear weapon," Blinken said.
If the talks were to fail, there would come a high chance of tougher sanctions on Iran which will increase oil prices amid the conflict in Ukraine.
France, the UK, and Germany have temporarily abandoned the talks, as they believe that it is down to the US and Iran to find a conclusion.
"Misunderstanding" regarding Lavrov comments on sanctions: Russian Ambassador
Russia's Ambassador to Tehran, Levan Jagaryan, commented in an interview with Iran's Tasnim news agency, on the recent remarks made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The Russian FM said that Moscow wanted written guarantees from Washington that Russia's trade, investment, and military-technical cooperation with Iran would not be hindered by sanctions imposed on it over its special military operation in Ukraine.
Jagaryan clarified that a "misunderstanding" took place with regards to Lavrov's comments, and called on the Iranian people to ignore stories from US-funded media, such as "Radio Yesterday", by which he was referring to Radio Farda (tomorrow), a Persian-speaking outlet that is a branch of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe external broadcast service.
The ambassador said Russia will discuss the issue with Iran by way of diplomatic channels, and officially explain the issue. Saeed Khatibzadeh, the Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesperson, had said that Iran is waiting to hear what Lavrov said through diplomatic channels.
